


At the Tottenham

by ChillyHollow



Category: Cormoran Strike Series - Robert Galbraith
Genre: Bars and Pubs, Colleagues - Freeform, Friendship, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-16
Updated: 2020-03-16
Packaged: 2021-02-28 17:40:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,018
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23171089
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChillyHollow/pseuds/ChillyHollow
Summary: Getting together on Friday night after work
Relationships: Cormoran Strike - Relationship
Comments: 4
Kudos: 15





	At the Tottenham

It was rare that the entire team could get together at the Tottenham for an after work drink on a Friday night.For once Barclay didn’t have to rush home as his wife had taken the baby to visit her parents.“Thank Christ!I love them both but that kid can scream!”Andy was going to have to leave in a while to pick up his family for a long summer holiday in Folkestone but he was making time to stop by for one drink, in his case a non-alcoholic lager since he was driving.Robin was going to have to leave to meet Matthew for dinner with some of his work colleagues but at least she was here for a while.Strike himself had promised to head over to Ilsa and Nick’s house for curry later, but that wouldn’t be for a while as Nick was stuck at the hospital.He wouldn’t leave until Ilsa texted him Nick had left work.But for now they were together, and toasting the completion of Robin’s latest successful case. 

Robin had them all in stitches:“I couldn’t figure out when the wife thought he was having it off with someone, since he was taking her out to lunch and dinner and for drinks so often.Then I discovered she had an identical twin!”

Barclay chimed in, “You should have seen the pair I was following last week.They were in and out of every bar in Shoreditch.I was legless before the night was half over but because I am such a dedicated worker, I stayed out with them until the bars closed. The wife about killed me.”They toasted Barclay’s dedication.

Andy claimed the floor with a story about a client who was convinced that aliens had taken over his local bank and how Andy had managed to get the perfect photograph of the bank manager which made —combined with the right shadows and some creative work with Photoshop—the manager look like he was sprouting horns.The client had been satisfied with this “proof.”Unfortunately, the client had then recommended the agency to all his nutball friends, something that had taken Strike a long time to get over.“Strike kept telling me he was going mad if he had one more middle-aged woman call convinced that the pastor of her church was rabid—or a spy for the Russians.” 

“Or both,” Strike added.“Although it was a relief from our usual clientele of the matrimonially challenged.And better than the man who wanted us to find him a bride.Who had to be Chinese, under 25, a virgin, an Oxford graduate and a model.With wealthy parents.I sent him to a marriage broker.Luckily my schoolmate Bitsy specializes in pairing people up.For a huge fee.She sent me a case of Doom Bar afterwards.”

Robin asked Strike if that was the oddest request he’d had.He thought a moment, and told them, “Well, it wasn’t a work request, it was something a guy I knew in Afghanistan asked me to do with him.I served for a while in an area with an American Special Forces unit and this guy was one of them.Got to know him pretty well.Good guy, although he had an odd hobby—he liked to collect meteorites.I’ve seen him crawling on his hands and knees under heavy enemy fire to look at a rock he thought might be a piece of one.Anyway, some years ago he was in London and he called me, wanted to know if I wanted to go to a reception with him for one of his astronaut buddies.Of course I said yes.”

“Wait a minute,” said Andy.“How did this guy know astronauts?”

“After he left the Special Forces he was with NASA, used to train astronauts to parachute out of aircraft.Apparently it’s the same process whether you are jumping out of a prop plane or a space capsule.Anyway, he got to know many of them and when he was in London to go to this guy’s reception, he asked me along.”

Barclay wanted to know, “Was going to this do the oddest request?”

“No,” Strike explained.“He wanted me to go on a meteorite hunting expedition with him.”

“Sounds fun,” said Robin.

“Not exactly.He wanted to hunt in Inner Mongolia.The plan was to rent airplanes—and I suspect the sort of planes we are talking about are the kind that are held together with duct tape and string—and fly over likely areas looking for meteorites.Then when we saw something that looked like a good bet, we’d jump out of the airplane, hike over and check it out.Then we’d hike to where the airplane could land and be picked up, if the Chinese Army didn’t find us first as the place he wanted to go was where they have these internment camps for Muslims now.Since I am pretty durn sure his job between being in the Army and working for NASA was working for the CIA, I think perhaps the Chinese wouldn’t have been very happy about this.Can you imagine?A former CIA officer and a former SIB officer caught prospecting for meteorites in Mongolia?Who is going to believe THAT?”

They all laughed. 

“It’s not the craziest thing I’ve heard that these guys do, though.One of Rob’s friends went on a secret mission armed only with a crossbow.”

They all shook their heads at the nutty things Americans would do, then Andy looked at his watch.“Time to head out, folks.”Barclay decided he’d go with him since “I want to watch football on the telly without the baby interrupting the game for once.”Strike’s phone buzzed with a text from Ilsa saying Nick was on his way, so he and Robin walked out of the Tottenham together, going to the train station where Robin would head out to the restaurant and Strike would head to curry night.

A little alcohol, companionship, a few laughs—does it get any better that that?


End file.
